Midwifery Education Accreditation Programme (MEAP)

The ICM’s Midwifery Education Accreditation Programme (MEAP), is a key educational mechanism to assess whether pre-service midwifery education programmes meet the ICM’s global education standards. MEAP offers accreditation approval based on an independent assessment of an institute’s midwifery educational programme(s) to determine the extent to which it meets ICM standards. MEAP not only serves as a quality label but enables consistent midwifery education processes and graduate outcomes.

The MEAP accreditation system focuses on pre-service midwifery programmes that use both direct entry and/or post-nursing registration

Institutions can apply for accreditation of one pre-service programme at a time. The process is comprised of the following stages:

For an education programme to be eligible, it must have a minimum of one cohort of graduates.

There are four main stages in the MEAP:

1. Expression of Interest (EOI): Interested midwifery education providers make an initial application by submitting an expression of interest form to ICM. ICM assesses the EOI against the selection criteria and those education providers that meet the criteria will be invited to progress to the next stage.

2. Application: Those education providers that meet the necessary criteria undertake an internal self-evaluation and submit the self-evaluation report to ICM. ICM Accreditation experts review the self-evaluation report and supporting materials and make a decision on whether to make an in-country assessment visit.

3. In Country Assessment: ICM accreditation experts carry out in-country assessments to verify and triangulate data and written documentation submitted by the midwifery educational institution during the Application Phase.

4. Accreditation: Accreditation experts prepare an evaluation report including recommendations based on in-country visits. The ICM Board reviews the report and renders a decision, regarding whether to award: accreditation, accreditation with conditions (to be delivered within a specified timeframe) or no accreditation, to the midwifery education programme.

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To strengthen Midwives Associations and to advance the profession of midwifery globally by promoting autonomous midwives as the most appropriate caregivers for childbearing women and in keeping birth normal, in order to enhance the reproductive health of women, their newborns and their families.